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Now comes the question whether, in all this discussion, we are
not merely helping to make out a case for some other order of
Beings and talking of matters alien to ourselves.
But how could that be? What understanding can there be failing
some point of contact? And what contact could there be with the
utterly alien?
We must then have, ourselves, some part or share in Eternity.
Still, how is this possible to us who exist in Time?
The whole question turns on the distinction between being in Time
and being in Eternity, and this will be best realized by probing
to the Nature of Time. We must, therefore, descend from Eternity
to the investigation of Time, to the realm of Time: till now we
have been taking the upward way; we must now take the downward-
not to the lowest levels but within the degree in which Time
itself is a descent from Eternity.
If the venerable sages of former days had not treated of Time,
our method would be to begin by linking to [the idea of] Eternity
[the idea of] its Next [its inevitable downward or outgoing
subsequent in the same order], then setting forth the probable
nature of such a Next and proceeding to show how the conception
thus formed tallies with our own doctrine.
But, as things are, our best beginning is to range over the most
noteworthy of the ancient opinions and see whether any of them
accord with ours.
Existing explanations of Time seem to fall into three classes:
Time is variously identified with what we know as Movement, with
a moved object, and with some phenomenon of Movement: obviously
it cannot be Rest or a resting object or any phenomenon of rest,
since, in its characteristic idea, it is concerned with change.
Of those that explain it as Movement, some identify it with
Absolute Movement [or with the total of Movement], others with
that of the All. Those that make it a moved object would identify
it with the orb of the All. Those that conceive it as some
phenomenon, or some period, of Movement treat it, severally,
either as a standard of measure or as something inevitably
accompanying Movement, abstract or definite.
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